2013 Essex County Gun Buy-Back
"Successful"?
You decide.

New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey S.
Chiesa announced on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, that more
than 1,700 guns were turned in by Essex County residents
during last weeks state-sponsored gun buyback
event, which took place at six churches in five Essex
municipalities on Feb. 15 and 16, 2013. Irvington,
Orange, East Orange, Montclair, and Newark participated.

Date after Buyback

Incident and link to news verification. EAST
ORANGE related reports are highlighted in YELLOW.

Guns used

2/25/13

Two Columbia High School students
walking home from a basketball game on Parker Avenue
Monday night were robbed of a cell phone by two juveniles
wielding a handgun, said Capt. John Perna of the
Maplewood Police Department.

1

2/26/13

A 26-year-old Newark man found near
Lincoln Park with a gunshot wound Tuesday night later
died from his injuries, the Essex County
Prosecutors Office said Wednesday.

1

2/28/13

An Essex County Sheriffs officer
was released from University Hospital Thursday after
being shot during a confrontation with two men outside a
Springfield Avenue bar, the Essex County Prosecutor's
Office said.

1

12/28/13

1

12/31/13

1

Total guns used in crimes
after February 2013 buyback (not necessarily recovered by
police)

Remember this?
04/30/13 Newark takes
210 guns "off the streets." Look where we are now!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Note: ALL of the guns on this list culled from Essex
County news media sources were used to commit crimes
>>>>>>>>

343

* A toy gun or BB gun "counts" because the robbery
was successful; the victim thought it was real and if someone had
shot the perpetrators, it would have been a legitimate "self
defense" case. The criminals should be charged with armed
robbery as if the gun were real.
** A perpetrator who refuses to show his hand(s) during an arrest
and who is subsequently killed by police during the arrest could
have had a gun concealed, and so this also "counts."
There is no cure for "stupid."

This is not meant to be humorous, or make fun of the gun
buyback programs. Recall that a similar Essex County gun buyback
program was held in December of 2009 and the results were the same:
the politicians claimed the buyback was the biggest ever and was,
therefore, pronounced "successful." Yet the shootings
continued, because criminals do not participate in gun buyback
programs. All that has happened is that honest citizens are being
deprived of a constitutional means to defend themselves when the
criminals come calling.

There is another aspect of these gun buyback programs that
was recently brought to my attention. The amnesty aspect, in
which no questions are asked when a gun is turned in and no
record is made linking the gun to the name and address of the
person who turned it in, effectively makes this a "gun
laundering" program. Weapons turned in that may have been
used in committing crimes cannot be traced back to the crime,
victim or perpetrator. We have laws against "money
laundering" but apparently "gun laundering" of
this sort is actually encouraged by the police of our area, since
they all participate in it.

This survey was conducted between March 4 and
March 13, 2013. More than 15,000 officers completed the survey,
which was promoted by PoliceOne exclusively to its 400,000
registered members, comprised of verified law enforcement
professionals. Only current, former or retired law enforcement
personnel were eligible to participate in the survey. The survey
sample size was broadly distributed by geography and rank in
proportion to the U.S. law enforcement community at large.
Respondents comprised a variety of ranks from departments of all
sizes, with the majority representing departments of greater than
500 officers. Of those that took the survey, 80 percent were
current law enforcement officers and 20 percent were
former/retired law enforcement.